Indulge: Double Take – The Erhards get a couple’s makeover

Germans Sabine and Erat Erhard moved to Beijing with their three daughters in 2012. Madeleine (age 7), Luisa (6), and Ellen (4) all attend House of Knowledge (HoK), where Sabine works as a teacher in the German preschool. Erat is a senior electrical maintenance engineer for Daimler.

Sabine and Erat meet with the London Loft style team: Scarlet Salmons-Ning, salon creative director; Phoebe Gao, creative director; and Justin Lee, artistic director. The style team agrees on a 1950’s influence for the Erhards: a classic, structured bob for Sabine, and a side-swept quiff for Erat.

While Lee begins shearing and shaving Erat, Sabine confesses to a horrified Salmons-Ning that she has never had her hair cut in Beijing, only in Germany. “It’s not important for me,” she says. Salmons-Ning maintains that, “Your hair is your face. If you don’t have a good haircut you can’t look good!” and sets about trying to prove this theory. Sabine’s attitude to makeup is equally laid back, but on seeing her final image, she smiles and says, “Maybe that will have to change after today.”

When we ask the Erhards if they like their new looks, Erat replies that “even on her wedding day she didn’t look this beautiful.” A clearly delighted Sabine responds “I feel good. If he likes it, I like it.” Later on, their three daughters ask if they can also have red hair from now on. “When I arrived home Luisa said ‘Wow mommy, how pretty you look!” This is a compliment to you guys,” says Sabine.

Get the Look, Erat:1 Lee shaves Erat’s back-and-sides. He shortens, layers, and feathers the crown. Salmons-Ning explains that the haircut can be worn two ways: side parted and slick, or tousled with a little wax.

2 While Erat’s beard is trimmed by Lee, Salmons-Ning cautions him to keep his neck shaved clean in future.

3 Lee finishes Erat’s look with some pomade for texture and hold.

Get the Look, Sabine:
1 Salmons-Ning takes a couple of centimeters from the end, and structures the bob so it swoops from the nape of the neck to Sabine’s jawline. “I’m keeping the style simple, because Sabine is a simple person and she needs to be able to wash and go,” says Salmons-Ning.

2 Gao and Salmons-Ning decide Sabine’s color needs to pop, as the styling will be quite simple. They choose an all-over warm chestnut red with a flash of raspberry red over one ear. The color placement means it can be kept hidden or made more noticeable, depending on how it’s worn.

3 Lee first shapes Sabine’s brows. He applies mineral powder, pencils in her brows and creates a natural, daytime smoky eye using a medium brown shade on the eyelid, graduating to a deeper brown in the crease and along the lash line. He lines the eye with liquid eyeliner before finishing with mascara. A bright raspberry lipstick complements Sabine’s new hair color.

This article originally appeared on page 20-22 of the beijingkids October 2015 issue. Click here to read the issue for free on Issuu.com. To find out how you can get your own copy, email distribution@truerun.com.